Warmer Waters
by HappyCrabMearii
Summary: Ariel meets a wayward water clone and discovers there are things about her favorite element that she had never imagined possible. ArielDemyx Water Clone. Yeah. Written for a crack list, but came out fluffy.


I don't own anything. Nothing at all. If I did, I wouldn't be here, I can say that much.

This was intended as part of a crack list, but it's kind of…fluffy and cute. (OMG OTP!!) Ariel/WaterClone. Yes. That's right.

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Beneath white caps of foam, currents swept past barnacled boulders and flowering plants; stirring sands and sweeping small creatures along the fluid path. The currents were gentle and unrestrained, as well as warm from full sunlight. That was one of the things Ariel loved most about being close to the shoreline – the waters were warmer there. She swam low and quickly, piercing those warm presses of water and letting the sand cloud what path she left behind as she enjoyed the change of atmosphere. The depths of Atlantica were reached only by filtered sunlight and cold blows of flowing water. She loved her home, of course, but she also loved being close to the shore, feeling the sun and occasionally being swept along the surface by the playful pushes and pulls of the tide. There were only two things Ariel loved more than those lazy moments of fluid submission: singing and watching the humans.

Sweeping into a graceful flip, Ariel darted upward, toward the surface. Her sudden halt just under the foaming crest made her hair billow around her as she slowly let her head above the surface; Cheshire grin creeping onto her face when she noticed activity on the beach. Staring for a moment, she let her grin falter.

'_What_,' her eyes narrowed, '_is going on over there? Is that a fight?_' Edging her way closer, she slid beside a large jagged rock, hiding in the shade of a lone, but leafy tree that had decided to make that rock it's home.

On the beach was a young male human covered in black fabric and holding a large item that Ariel instantly recognized as some type of instrument, though what kind she hadn't a clue. He had paused in whatever it was he had been doing and appeared to be thinking as he studied his instrument.

'_He couldn't have been fighting_,' she frowned, '_unless he was fighting with himself. Or the sand._' The thought granted her a small, though short-lived, giggle. Just then, he began to play the strange instrument, forming a vicious melody that rang through the water and crept around the mermaid's back and down her scales, enveloping her senses. Then there were more figures on the beach. Shocked, Ariel ducked slightly, keeping her eyes on the figures while sweeping her tail underwater in an attempt to rid it of any residue from the melody's effect.

'_Those...they're...that's water!_' Beneath the surface, her hands instinctively reached out, '_And he's controlling it. It's...dancing? This human can make water dance to his music?_' Slightly dazed, she continued to watch as the liquid figures, which looked almost identical to their creator, flowed and swayed, performing tricks no solid entity could. The black-clad human began to move also, playing his instrument to help them perform for him and seeming all too pleased with himself. There was one watery figure that seemed slightly confused though, as it swept away from the others and swayed toward the shoreline; toward Ariel. A glance to the human told her that he hadn't noticed this one creeping away. Studying the figure as it waded closer she swam back a bit. It paused, and slowly descended into the water.

Ducking beneath the surface completely, Ariel could just make out the wavering figure coming closer, letting itself be pushed by the current. In a moment, she was face to transparent face with it. Speechless, she backed away slightly, while at the same time tentatively reaching out to it. It reached back with a brush of warm fluid.

"Oh! I...uhm...you- you're water." '_Well that was a pointless statement,_' she grimaced and swam slightly closer. "Why aren't you with the others? It's a performance, right?"

The figure just looked back at her. Then it began to move as the others had done, only now, being surrounded by it's element, the movements were impossibly intricate and were complimented by the gentle currents surrounding the two. As it moved, Ariel felt an intrinsic need rise within her, from the tips of her fins to the back of her neck, she felt that this watery figure needed completion – a completion that only she could provide. Swimming to circle it, she studied the movements and smiled as she watched the impossibility that was the dancer before her – it's movements almost mesmerizing.

As suddenly as it had begun, the dancing stopped and her newest 'story to tell Flounder' faced her with urgency. Swirling tendrils crept off it's frame and melted into the surrounding waters as it stared almost forlornly back at her worried face.

"What's the matter? What's happening to you?"

The figure kept it's expression and simply pointed back toward the shore. Darting to the surface, she saw that the human had ended his playing and was watching the watery figures melt slowly into the sand. Alarmed, she dove back beneath the waves and came to face the figure.

"You need music to survive! That's it, isn't it?"

It nodded, edges of it's face dispersing into the water.

She was desperate to save this being and thought of anything she might do to delay it's departure, even for only a short while. Biting her lip she looked to it's fluid eyes.

"I'm not sure this will help, but it's worth a try."

Breathing deeply, she began to sing. It wasn't a song she sang often, but it was one of her favorites – a lullaby she remembered her mother singing, about two mer-folk swimming a path of silver water to the stars, only to find they were empty and cold, with no color to see other than the distant blues of the oceans they had forsaken. It was a sad lullaby, but had a beautiful melody that seemed to instantly work in containing the figure before her.

Grinning broadly, her voice grew stronger and she began to swim around her audience, twirling about the figure and, after a few minutes, accidentally went through it. The sensation gave her a pleasant shock and she looked to see if it had minded the intrusion. It was smiling, if that were possible. Singing slightly softer, she slowly did it again, pushing arms through torso, and then completely merging with it. Voice faltering for a moment, she pushed through and spun around to see the figure still smiling, and holding arms out, expressing that it hadn't minded at all.

A grin snaked it's way onto her face as her voice crescendoed throughout the waters; she lazily swayed toward her friend and paused as she once more let the shock of their conjoined bodies run through her senses. She could feel the life filling this creature alongside inherent and unrelenting crashes of music flowing into her own body and mind. At the core of everything was a melody of being; a melody she wanted to hear again and again.

Pulling out of it, her voice dropped as she began the final stanza. She watched the sunlight filter and waver through the figure before her, outlined in light, as it's frame fluidly caressed the small space between them. Putting her face to it's faltering gaze, she wrapped herself around the figure as she hit the final note, smiling sadly as it began to disperse once again.

She stayed that way, under the waves, feeling the last tendrils of music and life ebb through the waters surrounding her. Waters that didn't seem so warm any more.


End file.
